ISic001682: funerary inscription for Cesernius Marcelus

Photo J. Prag (2015), Aut. Assessorato Beni Culturali Regione Siciliana n.10681 del 06/05/2014
ID
ISic001682
Language
Latin
Text type
funerary
Object type
plaque
Status
No data
Links
View in current site

Edition

Loading...

Apparatus criticus

  • line.6: The top of the B is visible above the break. The final two Es on this line appear either partially or entirely to lack the lowermost stroke.

Physical description

Support

Description
A marble funerary plaque, broken into multiple fragments and currently reconnected with plaster filling the voids. Orsi records 7 fragments (in both the Taccuini and the NSA), although the inventory entries both note only 6 fragments, and the transcription under inv.50779 (1948) misses the final letters lower right of the 7th fragment. The 7th fragment was not with the stone when last inspected (2015). It is unclear from Orsi's drawing whether the lower left corner was fully preserved in the 7th fragment originally or not, and therefore as it is currently preserved, at least one line is lost at the bottom. The plaque is thicker at the top than at the bottom.
Object type
plaque
Material
marble
Condition
fragments, contiguous
Dimensions
height: 39 cm, width: 23.7 cm, depth: 1.8-2.5 cm

Inscription

Layout
Well-spaced lines filling the width of the available stone, word-breaks do not observe line-end.
Text condition
incomplete
Lettering

Letter heights
Line 1: 27-30mm
Line 2: 27-37mm
Line 3: 27-31mm
Line 4: 24-30mm
Line 5: 24-35mm
Line 6: 22-33mm
Line 7: 22-26mm
Line 8: 25-26mm
Line 9: 23mm
Interlinear heights
Interlineation 1-2: 10-15mm
Interlineation 2-3: 10-15mm
Interlineation 3-4: 13-21mm
Interlineation 4-5: 5-16mm
Interlineation 5-6: 10-22mm
Interlineation 6-7: 15-23mm
Interlineation 7-8: 17-21mm
Interlineation 8-9: 9-15mm

Provenance

Place of origin
Syracusae
Provenance found
Found in the Fusco necropolis
Map

Current location

Place
Siracusa, Italy
Repository
Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi ,
Autopsy
Prag 2015-07-01
Map

Date

mid-2nd century to mid-4th century CE (AD 150 – AD 350)
Evidence
lettering

Text type

funerary

commentary

The fragment recorded by Orsi from the lower left recorded an initial X to the numeral and three letters in a 10th line below, which are not easily resolved in a common abbreviation but likely to pertain to the erection of the memorial by Cesernius Marcelus' family. The position of the X at the start of line 9, with at least a partial vacat of one character implied before it in the drawing by Orsi leaves it slightly uncertain exactly what the total age in years recorded was, with a minimum of 33 and a maximum of 53, but 43 seeming the most likely from the spacing on the fragments preserved. The repetition of X across line-break in both uxor and vixit is notable.

Bibliography

Digital editions
  • TM: -
  • EDR: -
  • EDH: -
  • EDCS: -
  • PHI: -
Printed editions

Citation and editorial status

Editor
Jonathan Prag
Principal contributor
Jonathan Prag
Contributors
Last revision
6/2/2021